October 1, 2024 • 35 mins
10/01/24 - Host Doug Stephan and Dr. Ken Kronhaus of Lake Cardiology (352-735-1400) cover a number of topics, including the physical monitor patients can wear as a watch for physicians to see real-time health updates, immediate benefits fro quitting smoking you wouldn’t expect, a new COVID-19 variant, if/when should you get a flu shot, and news about bird flu and the risk to humans, good news regarding melanoma skin cancer. Plus, questioning if suicide is contagious, signs of which to be aware, and how to prevent “suicide clusters.” Doug and Dr. Ken discuss that, too.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doug Stephan here with my friend Elizabeth Miller. All right,
let's talk about something that's new. Everybody, listen up, because
this is going to help you a great deal. There's
a special deal while supplies last.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And they're not going to last long.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Go to Doug Stefan dot com and click on the
Dougs deal button. It's a thirty day supply of Caltrin
for thirty five dollars. That's a savings of forty bucks
because the usual price is seventy five.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, we don't do this ever. And with Calatren teaming
up with Doug right now, Like he said, this offer
is only good through his website, you can always call
us too, and we will definitely still offer that to
you while those supplies are lasting. You can call eight
three three top Loft and just say hey, I've got
Doug's deal for thirty five dollars. I want that bottle
(00:52):
and if we still have supplies, we will definitely give
that to you by phone two.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Do it now, Thanks Elizabeth. The Good Day Health Podcast
with Doctor Ken Cronhouse, sponsored in part by Caldron, The Safe,
proven Way to lose weight and keep it off. Ken
is a researcher down at his in his clinic Lake Cardiology,
Mount Dura, Florida. You can take advantage. You might even
be part of the research. Who knows you have to
(01:17):
get to Ken to find out how that all works.
And you can do that by dialing his office at
three five two seven three five fourteen hundred. Remind me
to remind you of.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That number several times. If you're here to the program.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
You're hearing us on the radio because we have four
hours of great weekend programming that we present every weekend,
including two hours of Good Day Health, one with doctor
Ken Cronhouse, the other doctor Jack Stockwell. Then we have
the American Family Farmer, which is very healthy in a
manner of speaking, because we talk about family farms and
(01:51):
good food, that sort of thing, how the farms are working.
So there's that help that's available at americanfamilyfarmershow dot com
if you don't hear on our radio station, and then
the talk radio Countdown show, so all kinds of at
your service information for stations all around the country. Speaking
of service information, Ken was kind enough actually two years
(02:14):
ago and I think last year we upgraded it. He
was kind of to supply me with a new watch.
It kind of looks like a fit bit, and we
talk about it from time to time. When I put
it on, I go through the info that's there, like
right now, my heart's beating at sixty three beats a minute,
my temperature is ninety six point two, and getting some
(02:35):
of the.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Other stuff like my blood pressure.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
That sort of thing, and you can see what I see.
That's the beauty of this thing. You can see Ken
can see by looking at his iPhone is an app
that presents all of the same information for all your clients,
right and they you know, when you were looking for
a particular.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Client, just put the name in.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Is that how you see what everybody is doing that's
wearing these Well.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
It's on my Android. This works for both Android and iPhones,
whatever you have. And we need to congratulate Medicare for
doing something very well. They did a study at Physician
Urging on Prevention a few years ago and they discovered
that when patients are monitored by these high tech devices,
(03:26):
they stay out of the er, they stay out of
the hospital. Medicare saves a lot of money that makes
Medicare happy, and they patients not getting admitted staying out
of the air makes patients happy, and preventive physicians like
myself are happy because we do a better job at
helping our patients. So this works for everyone. It's called
(03:50):
Remote Patient Monitoring RPM, and it allows us to give
all a device that you take home, and it's done
with different kinds of technology. I like using these smart watches,
but we also offer the old fashioned blood pressure cuff
that actually finds its way onto the internet itself. The
(04:12):
technology is amazing. The user doesn't have to do anything.
So if you don't feel comfortable with technology, that's an
option that you can use. An home blood pressure monitor
that we give you that will find its way onto
the Internet. It'll find its way to the app on
my phone, and the providers and nurses in my office
(04:33):
we get this information immediately. Doug has the high tech version.
It does look like a fitbit. It actually looks like
an Apple watch because a hippie can't be a phone.
But it does more than an Apple watch does accept
being a phone. Among other things, it will measure your
blood pressure, your heart rate, your temperature coming soon, your
(04:57):
blood sugar coming soon. It'll send us an EKG. One
of the things I love that it does currently is
it will measure your mental stress level. This is from
work that was done by these brilliant cardiologists at Mount
Sinai Medical School in New York City during COVID, when
mental stress was off the Richter scale. They these cardiologists
(05:17):
confirmed what we thought was true. That's something called heart
rate variability. That's how the beat to be timing, the
cycle length, the time from one beat to the next.
Even though your heart rate and rhythm look regular, there
is a little bit of a variation as it's normal.
It's called heart rate variability. And this could be measured
(05:38):
very easily at the risk by the watchband. And heart
rate variability is normal, and as heart rate variability goes away,
it correlates with increasing mental stress. Also, increasing mental stress
is correlated with heart rate acceleration. So the watch band
measuring your pulse at your wrist, the radial pulse right
(06:01):
beneath your thumb, it can tell your heart rate variability.
It can tell your heart rate acceleration and using what
we call an algorithm, it transforms that into a single
number from one to one hundred and dug By just
tapping the face of the watch, he can immediately get
his blood pressure, you can among many other factors, including
(06:22):
oxygen saturation. We need to mention also it'll also but
it'll tell you also your mental stress level. Now, many
people are treated with medications for high blood pressure and
hate them because they make them feel awful. And that's
because unfortunately, we're being treated for reactive hypertension, not essential hypertension.
(06:46):
Our blood pressures react a lot, some people more than others,
that go up and down all day. And it's very
important when doctors give you medication if they're needed, that
we know your baseline blood pressure. That's when there's no
mental health stress, there's no physical activity. But if we
give you medications for blood pressure measured with mental stress
(07:07):
or physical activity, it's way up your blood pressure. It
comes down with the medicines, and then when you relax,
your blood pressure goes even further down and you go
down on the floor. You hate the medicine because you're
weak and dizzy. You didn't need it. You had reactive hypertension.
You need mental stress reduction. The beauty of this watch
it differentiates between essential hypertension when the vessels are too
(07:31):
stiff and need medicines after lifestyle changes are not adequately
effective or whether mental stress reduction alone without medication is needed.
And this beat the experts at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The professors, this watch does this amazingly because it's very
hard to know when people have reactive hypertension. With some
(07:55):
it's obvious, but with some it's very hard to know
that it's reactive hypertension. The watch takes the guesswork out
of it. We now can measure your mental stress and
when the blood pressure is up, I teach all the
patients immediately get your mental stress level. And if the
mental stress score is over fifty, you don't need drugs.
You need relaxation, whatever works in your lifestyle to get
(08:17):
the mental stress down. If the mental stress score is
less than fifty, then you need some medication and you
won't overreact to the medication dropping your blood pressure too
low when you relax, because your blood pressure is a
baseline level, it's already a relaxed level. And if you
don't believe this, just get all worked up physically and mentally.
(08:38):
Use that home blood pressure monitor. Take a blood pressure
reading every five to ten minutes for twenty thirty minutes.
You'll see especially that top number dramatically fall down. And
I've done this to myself. I've done this with so
many patients. It's really dramatic when you see yourself how
much physical activity and mental activity affect your blood pressure,
(09:01):
especially that top number. Again, with this watch, it also
will measure and assess the quality of your sleep. It'll
count steps. It's just amazing what this technology does. I'm
so excited because soon it's gonna be measuring blood sugar
and sending us an EKG. This is before the FDA
awaiting approval, all.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Right, So you can even depending on your sport to
sort of follow up and what Ken was saying, they
have a different section on here. If you're playing badminton,
it measures the calories that you're burning and your heart
rate and that sort of thing. But you can do
that with most anything. I just I was going in
I when I first went there.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
This morning's one twenty eight or seventy three. It's pretty
high for me.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Now it's down to below one twenty seventy three is
about where it's somewhere between sixty eight and seventy three.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
And your temperature, I bet is fine. In all this
data need to it on the watch no excellent, no,
no more excellent, and no more need for pen and paper.
It's all stored there on the watch and it's then
sent to me on my app and I can see
it immediately and it's the communication just is wonderful. It's
(10:16):
actually monitored by a nurse in real time to make
sure that these parameters stay within the normals that we
assigned for each patient. So it's a wonderful way to
stay out of the er, stay out of the hospital.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
There you go, ask doctor Ken more about it. You
can visit with him online or at his office by
dialing three five two seven three five fourteen hundred and
you can get him in the watch and the hole.
Miguela here, let me talk to you for a moment
about Caltrin, a healthy weight loss product recommended by so
(10:52):
many people who have gone through it. I'm talking about
millions of people in twenty seven twenty eight years who
have had the opportunity to get you get the benefits
of using this fabulous product, Caltrin. It's made in the USA.
It has been independently tested every year for quality and purity.
(11:13):
It's for both men and women who want to lose
weight naturally. One of the things that happens when you
buy the product is you get at the moment anyway,
a special deal, so you're now you can buy one
month and get a month free, so you can share
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of cool. If you're on medications for blood pressure, weight loss, diabetes,
(11:36):
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(11:58):
dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Which is there.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That's their page and clinical studies are right there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
You can see how it works.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Fabulous, So help yourself to success when it comes to
losing weight, whether you're using drugs or not. This is
a great support system for that. It's Caldron at toploss
dot com. We continue with doctor Kim Cronhouse. As a
(12:26):
matter of fact, there's some good news as those of
you who continue to try to quit smoking. All right,
so my question to you about the folks who are
giving an earnest effort to the smoking problem and quitting it.
This is a this is the most disgusting problem we have.
I think we have a lot of disgusting problems, but
(12:49):
the grossness of smoking. Seeing people throw cigarette butts out
the window, astrays that are full in cars, it's gross.
So with that background, as you quit smoking, what are
some of the benefits.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Doug, This is some new information encouraging for those who
are thinking about smoking, some immediate benefits, and this comes
out of the GERNAL the American College of Cardiology Clinical
Electrophysiology edition this week about atrial fibrillation. That's this most
common electrical abnormality the heart at the top of the
(13:25):
heart beating, as we say, like a bag of worms.
It creates clots at the top of the heart that
are then propelled to the bottom and then up to
the brain. Thirty percent of strokes are caused by atrial fibrillation.
And the news this week is that smokers who make
the decision to quit will see almost immediate health benefits Doug,
(13:46):
including a quick drop in their risk for atrial fibrillation.
The findings provide a compelling new reason, Doug, to show
current smokers that it's not too late to quit and
that having smoked in the past does not mean you're
destined to develop atrial fibrillation, but.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You have other problems your lungs.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think I read or I remember it because my
mother had a bad case of COPD because she'd smoked
since she was seventeen. And those little capillaris in your lungs,
depending on what's in the tars and stuff that are
in the cigarettes, that stuff sticks to your lungs and
that's what plugs up. That's mean that makes their lungs
(14:28):
unable to do what they're supposed to do, right, So.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
That what causes well, it's just a ToxS into the
airways system and it just damages air cells and makes
it so much harder to breathe. But it's never too
late to quit, and your health will improve immediately once
you quit. And just to permit the most common cause
of lung cancer, which everybody should be aware of.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I always am while we're on the air, I'm looking
at various sites for information about health, and we saw
something that is remarkable. Actually, they now have a new
way to check the brain of a fetus and they're
discovering remarkable things in the pregnancy in the nine month
(15:16):
pregnancy period, as to how your brain develops. This fascinating.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I mean, I look around at the world.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I was looking as I was taking my dog for
a walk the other night, at the moon and thinking,
here's this thing three hundred thousand miles away from us
that works perfectly. Our planet works perfectly. Our bodies are
perfect if we don't mess them up. I mean, it's
just And to look at these brain scans of these
these you know, the things in the womb, it's just
(15:47):
it is amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I'm being more philosophical, but I mean, what do.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We do to ourselves as we become adults?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Are we come into this world?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You know, you see the perfection of what's going on
inside the.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Wound, real and amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Really, it really is life, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
We transfused my daughter and you know at eighteen weeks,
I mean, you did amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So there are a lot of questions. Let's talk about
this new COVID variant that's around whether or not you
should get a vaccine shots flu shots. What happens if
you get sick is the bird flu. All flu questions
and whether or not you should get a flu shot.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Is now the time to do it.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Let's address all these questions with doctor Ken as we continue,
how do you do? This is Good Day.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Health with doctor Ken Cronhouse.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I'm Doug Stephan, Doug Stephan here with my friend Elizabeth Miller.
All right, let's talk about something that's new. Everybody, listen up,
because this is going to help you a great deal.
There's a special deal while supplies last.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And they're not going to last long.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Go to Doug Stefan dot com and click on the
Doug's deal button. It's a thirty day supply of Caltrin
for thirty five dollars. That's a savings of forty bucks
because the usual price is seventy five.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, we don't do this ever. And with Calatren teaming
up with Doug right now, Like he said, this offer
is only good through his website. You can always call
us too, and we will definitely still offer that to
you while those supplies are lasting. You can call eight
three three top loss and just say hey, I've got
Dougs deal for thirty five dollars. I want that bottle
(17:32):
and if we still have supplies, we will definitely give
that to you by phone two.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Do it now, Thanks Elizabeth, doctor Ken takes the various
journals of medicine, analyzes the reports that have come from
various meetings and research that's being done, and tells us
what we need to know. So I asked the question
about flu. There's all kinds of flu stuff, bird flu.
I notice, you know, I do the American Family Farmers Show,
(17:59):
and I am a farmer and just to be a broadcaster,
so I'm aware of the focus on whether cows, dairy
cows are getting the flu. There are a couple of
dairies out in the Midwest that have had a little
bit of a problem.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It doesn't affect the milk, but.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
There are people who have now done the research and
they think there's going to be a shot available for
cows to keep them from getting the flu. So what
about people and the bird flu in general? As we
look at the various flus that are around, Sure we
start with the bird flu.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Can the news this week about bird flu and it's
hard to know what to do with this story. But
because the CDC is reporting a case and is it
a one offer, is this really of any concern? Even
the infectious disease experts are unsure about this one. But
in a disclosure DOUG that cannot eliminate the possibility that
(18:55):
bird flu may have spread from one human to another.
For the first time in America, it's been reported that
a person who lived with a Missouri resident that was
infected with this H five and one virus that is
the bird flu, became sick the same day. So it's
is this a one off? Is this a warning that
(19:16):
bird flu is going to be spread human to human?
No one knows. I have read some of the comments
by those who are considered the infectious disease experts in
the country, and no one sure. It's just something to
be aware of, not to get all alarmed about. I
think our individual risk at this point is extremely low.
(19:38):
But this is just something that is good to be aware.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Of, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So let's do some other flu stuff then, including recommendations
for whether or not people should get their flu shot.
Now I have no intention of getting one, but that's
just me. Ye are you getting I'd get a regular
flu shot? Maybe that's the question here. Are we having
a combo this year? I know the suggestion was last
(20:04):
year that there would be a preparation sort of a
catch all for one shot. Is that reality?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Well again, let's not let's not confuse when we say
the flu. These are viruses, and I think, Doug, you're
thinking about COVID nineteen virus and the flu virus, which
are different viruses, right different vaccines at this point, not
bird flu. They're all viruses. And right now COVID nineteen
and the flu are two separate vaccines. I think in
(20:35):
the future they may not be. You'll have that option,
but you know, the general recommendation. Let's talk about the
flu vaccine first. That one's a lot easier in my
humble opinion to discuss, and the general recommendation because the
flu does mutate each year and it changes and it
(20:56):
so if you get one one year, you probably and
you do need won the next year. And the usual
recommendation is September and October of each year to get
your single flu vaccine. You can get at any time
of year, but that's when you get the most bang
for the buck, the most effectiveness. And it's recommended in
(21:16):
everyone six months and older, except if you have a
prior allergy to it, which would be a contraindication. Of course,
some people are most importantly in need of this, people
who have chronic health conditions like kidney, heart, liver, lung, diabetes.
(21:37):
Those who require more medical follow up definitely would benefit most.
The immino compromised patient, pregnant people, children, taking as for
in nursing home residents, people like myself, healthcare workers were
at more risk of getting the flu. These are the groups,
the subgroups that are especially in need of getting a
(22:00):
flu vaccine. But everyone, unless you have a contry indication
if you're six months or older, is eligible one and
should think about it. Talk to your doctor. This is
an individual decision.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
All right. So that's that business, the flu vaccine and
people getting sick. I've heard a lot of stories in
the last few weeks, the last few months, actually, this
summer was very interesting with all the people that had COVID.
I think your daughter had it as a matter of fact.
So what do you do if you gets sick? There's
(22:32):
still the varying degrees the You know, when we first
had the problem a number of years ago, there were
varying degrees of how sick you could get or would get.
Is that still the case?
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Yes, you know you're not today hearing about people everywhere
dying from COVID as you did in twenty twenty twenty
twenty one. But there is this summer because of travel,
because of the of the summer, more people were indoors
in crowds, and there was a blip in COVID. It
(23:07):
still is a bit there, but and there is this
new variant, so our immunity is a little less. So
it has shown itself this in the last couple of months,
but it doesn't seem to be as life threatening. I
think all of us have been exposed, whether we know
it or not, to COVID, so we all have some
(23:29):
natural immunity. Many of us have had vaccines, so that
probably helps a bit. But again there are some subgroups
of people who, if they are going to get COVID,
are at much higher risk of hospitalization and death. And
you know, especially it's felt over sixty five, but especially
over seventy five. And again, the same at risk groups
(23:53):
that we talked about for flu are the groups that
are at risk for dying or being hospitalized with COVID.
We're talking about people with health chronic health conditions, lung,
hard kidney, liver diabetes, seriously obese patients, those who have
compromised immune systems, pregnant people, a subgroup often forgotten, but
(24:16):
pregnant women are at much higher increased risk of serious
complications if they do get COVID, and people who are
nursing home residents and also healthcare workers to some extent.
So this decision whether to take the COVID, boy, I
don't want to get there, and nothing is more of
a hot button than that one. But just make your
(24:36):
own decision, talk to your doctor about it. And there's
no way to give out one size fits all advice
on this. You just have to know your own personal
risk of surviving COVID or of staying out of the
hospital should you get COVID, and then make that decision
for yourself with the help of your doctor.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
All right, let's keep moving here. There are some new
stories of drugs, immunotherapy drugs that if you have melanoma,
for example, I guess this might have been good news
if we started.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
The hour with this.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
You let's talk about difference between melanoma carcinoma people who
have advanced I think I'm thinking to back to when.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We isn't that awful. I'm thinking about I can.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
See the senator who had any ran for president. Why
am I not grabbing onto his name anyway, and a
lot of people that have melanomas and carcinoma's yeah melon
m John McCain. Yeah, So anyway, advanced melanoma and what
happens with some of the new drugs, and maybe you
can explain the difference for people who get confused between
(25:51):
carcinomas and melanomas, which one is the more deadly.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well, we're talking about cancer and various types of cancer,
and let's talk about melanoma because this really is good news.
Do we have a bit of time because we all rush, Yes,
this is really good news. Melanoma. You know, it has
been thought of as a very dangerous type of skin cancer.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Dug.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
It develops when melanocytes. These are the cells that produce melanin.
These are the cells that create the color.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
We all have skin, and the only reason we have
different skin colors is because some have more melanocytes than others.
That's the big difference, no big difference. And if we
all have the same amount of this type of cell,
we'd all have the same skin color. But that's what
produces skin color, and cancers of this particular cell, the melanocyte,
(26:47):
produces of a horrible, deadly skin cancer up until recently.
You know, you go back about ten years. If you
got this diagnosis, you were dead very quickly. This comes
out of the New England Journal of Medicine. It's a
breakthrough that immunotherapy drugs can extend the survival for people
with advanced melanomas. This is very important information. It's really
(27:12):
hopeful and was just published this past weekend in the
New England Journal of Medicine. Quickly and that's how important
this result is. So decade a decade DOUG of patient
follow up, that's a long time. In a research study
finds that a combination of two immunotherapy drugs and i'll
mention how these things work shortly can greatly extend survival
(27:34):
for people with advanced melanomas. So in twenty eleven, DOUG
a diagnosis of advanced metastatic melanomas typically man death within
six and a half months. So once you were diagnosed
with melanoma, and it usually metastatic, that means it moved
out of the site where it began. And these things
(27:56):
move so quickly that usually when it's diagnosed it is metastatic.
Around meant you were dead within six and a half months.
Horrible and I've seen this over the course of being
a physician. It's just dreadful. Pancreatic cancer, melanoma, awful, awful, awful.
There's no good cancer, but this has been among the worst.
But the good news is by twenty twenty four, use
(28:19):
of the two drugs, and these are a mouthful, hard
to say novel lumb niv o l u m ab
and am pilum mab IPI l i m umab. It
just makes them very hard to pronounce, has extended that
survival for six years and possibly more. Both drugs are
(28:43):
in a class of cancer medications. They're called immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors. These medicines work by switching off a
key cellular mechanism that would otherwise tell immune system T
cells to not attack of cancer cells. So there are
various cells in the immune system. The B is in boy,
(29:06):
T is in TOM, and they work on different types
of foreign bodies. And a cancer becomes a foreign body.
You aren't born with it usually, but it's an abnormality
and the immune system will often protect us. But for
some odd reason, in this kind of cancer, the cancer
gets smart to protect itself and turns off the immune
(29:27):
system that should be protecting us from this cancer. But
these drugs actually turn back on the cell and your
natural immunity, your natural cells that are there to fight
foreign bodies, going and destroy the cancer in the skin.
This is great hope. Hopefully, as more and more follow
up occurs and more research is done, this six and
(29:50):
a half month survival to more than six year survival
will even extend much much longer. And I think that
is the future of this immune therapy be where we
target with the immune system and with monoclonal antibodies focused
missiles right at the cancer cells. We don't destroy the
rest of the body trying to kill the cancer cells.
(30:11):
All we do is kill the cancer. This is a
great breakthrough you talked about, Presidents, is what kept Jimmy
Carter alive and is keeping him alive. That kind of
brain cancer should have been expired much much earlier. This
is great hope for anyone who thinks about cancer, which
is probably all of us.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I guess we all wonder because you and others say
Jack Starckwell says all the time as well, we all
have cancers in our body. It's just what happens to them.
Depending on what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And you know we.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Talked earlier about alcohol, smoking and all those things.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
They help the cancer cells, they get together.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Okay, coming up next questions for doctor Ken on this
week's Good Day Health. I'm Doug Stefan stick Around.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Most suicides stem from some mental health disorders. Statistics, surprisingly
at least to me, show that the behavior can sometimes
be contagious, and this actually leads to suicide clusters. Suicide clusters,
they're defined as a group of suicides or suicide attempts
(31:21):
that occur closer together in time, space, or both than
would normally be expected in a community. And what we
see is that these suicide clusters, they actually really do occur,
and we need to prevent them. So how can we
prevent them? Such some things to think about communication after
(31:42):
there is a suicide, mom and dad, friends, you've got
to communicate. You've got to talk about it. The stigma.
We've got to stop the stigma of suicide and feel
comfortable communicating about this. You've got to give both mental
and physical to those people involved, and make sure you
(32:04):
watch for any signs that someone around the other person
who committed suicide is thinking about committing suicide. You know,
if somebody gives away all their belongings, they're thinking about suicide.
If somebody suddenly empties out their bank account and gives
it away, they're thinking about suicide. People are neglecting themselves.
(32:26):
People are feeling hopeless, helpless, not worthwhile, there's just no happiness.
This is the severest form of depression. Especially as we
learn from the study they if these individuals have been
around others or another person who recently committed suicide, watched
(32:47):
for that cluster, and feel comfortable getting involved, you might
save a life. You can ask somebody. Don't be afraid
about asking somebody, your child, your friend, are you thinking
about suicide? Because study after study shows that that does
not put the idea into their head. It actually helps
(33:08):
let the steam out of the pot. It actually gives
people who are thinking about suicide an opportunity to talk
because here is somebody who might actually be concerned and
will be willing to listen. So if you have any
concern that somebody is thinking about suicide, actually ask them.
(33:29):
You may save a life. I know I have in
my career as a physician, have saved several lives by
being comfortable about asking people who I thought were just
overly depressed and asking them about are they contemplating suicide?
(33:49):
And then hearing months later doctor Ken, thank you for asking.
You saved my life Ken.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Intestinal parasites and having problems with diarrhea, how do you
know when you have a real problem, And because a
lot of Americans certainly suffer from this, this is a
health problem that happens all around the world.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
In fact, let's talk about the symptoms of intestinal parasites, DOUG.
They're not specific to intestinal parasites because then you have
to check the stool. The doctor has to send off
some to the lab. But there are some common symptoms
that should alert you that you need to be checked.
Most of them make pretty much sense. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea,
(34:33):
vomiting gas or bloating, dysenteria, when there's loose stools containing
blood and mucus, rush or itching around the rectum or vulva,
stomach pain or tenderness, and just feeling tired. These are
the symptoms of parasites in the intestine, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
So taking things for them. There are a lot of
commercial things you can take in they're probiotics and prebiotics
and things that you take maybe as a matter of course,
if you have often frequent problems with this sort of thing.
I know I've heard that a number of times to
find prebiotics are helpful. Probiotics especially a lot of people
(35:11):
take them.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
More advice and more answers to questions from doctor Can
doctor Can Cronhaus. Here this Good Day Health Doug Stefan
with doctor Ken Cronhaus, sponsored in part by Caldron. Which
is the safe way for you to lose weight and
keep it off.
Doug Stephan here with my friend Elizabeth Miller. All right,
let's talk about something that's new. Everybody, listen up, because
this is going to help you a great deal. There's
a special deal while supplies last.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And they're not going to last long.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Go to Doug Stefan dot com and click on the
Dougs deal button. It's a thirty day supply of Caltrin
for thirty five dollars. That's a savings of forty bucks
because the usual price is seventy five.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, we don't do this ever. And with Calatren teaming
up with Doug right now, Like he said, this offer
is only good through his website, you can always call
us too, and we will definitely still offer that to
you while those supplies are lasting. You can call eight
three three top Loft and just say hey, I've got
Doug's deal for thirty five dollars. I want that bottle
(00:52):
and if we still have supplies, we will definitely give
that to you by phone two.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Do it now, Thanks Elizabeth. The Good Day Health Podcast
with Doctor Ken Cronhouse, sponsored in part by Caldron, The Safe,
proven Way to lose weight and keep it off. Ken
is a researcher down at his in his clinic Lake Cardiology,
Mount Dura, Florida. You can take advantage. You might even
be part of the research. Who knows you have to
(01:17):
get to Ken to find out how that all works.
And you can do that by dialing his office at
three five two seven three five fourteen hundred. Remind me
to remind you of.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That number several times. If you're here to the program.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
You're hearing us on the radio because we have four
hours of great weekend programming that we present every weekend,
including two hours of Good Day Health, one with doctor
Ken Cronhouse, the other doctor Jack Stockwell. Then we have
the American Family Farmer, which is very healthy in a
manner of speaking, because we talk about family farms and
(01:51):
good food, that sort of thing, how the farms are working.
So there's that help that's available at americanfamilyfarmershow dot com
if you don't hear on our radio station, and then
the talk radio Countdown show, so all kinds of at
your service information for stations all around the country. Speaking
of service information, Ken was kind enough actually two years
(02:14):
ago and I think last year we upgraded it. He
was kind of to supply me with a new watch.
It kind of looks like a fit bit, and we
talk about it from time to time. When I put
it on, I go through the info that's there, like
right now, my heart's beating at sixty three beats a minute,
my temperature is ninety six point two, and getting some
(02:35):
of the.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Other stuff like my blood pressure.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
That sort of thing, and you can see what I see.
That's the beauty of this thing. You can see Ken
can see by looking at his iPhone is an app
that presents all of the same information for all your clients,
right and they you know, when you were looking for
a particular.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Client, just put the name in.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Is that how you see what everybody is doing that's
wearing these Well.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
It's on my Android. This works for both Android and iPhones,
whatever you have. And we need to congratulate Medicare for
doing something very well. They did a study at Physician
Urging on Prevention a few years ago and they discovered
that when patients are monitored by these high tech devices,
(03:26):
they stay out of the er, they stay out of
the hospital. Medicare saves a lot of money that makes
Medicare happy, and they patients not getting admitted staying out
of the air makes patients happy, and preventive physicians like
myself are happy because we do a better job at
helping our patients. So this works for everyone. It's called
(03:50):
Remote Patient Monitoring RPM, and it allows us to give
all a device that you take home, and it's done
with different kinds of technology. I like using these smart watches,
but we also offer the old fashioned blood pressure cuff
that actually finds its way onto the internet itself. The
(04:12):
technology is amazing. The user doesn't have to do anything.
So if you don't feel comfortable with technology, that's an
option that you can use. An home blood pressure monitor
that we give you that will find its way onto
the Internet. It'll find its way to the app on
my phone, and the providers and nurses in my office
(04:33):
we get this information immediately. Doug has the high tech version.
It does look like a fitbit. It actually looks like
an Apple watch because a hippie can't be a phone.
But it does more than an Apple watch does accept
being a phone. Among other things, it will measure your
blood pressure, your heart rate, your temperature coming soon, your
(04:57):
blood sugar coming soon. It'll send us an EKG. One
of the things I love that it does currently is
it will measure your mental stress level. This is from
work that was done by these brilliant cardiologists at Mount
Sinai Medical School in New York City during COVID, when
mental stress was off the Richter scale. They these cardiologists
(05:17):
confirmed what we thought was true. That's something called heart
rate variability. That's how the beat to be timing, the
cycle length, the time from one beat to the next.
Even though your heart rate and rhythm look regular, there
is a little bit of a variation as it's normal.
It's called heart rate variability. And this could be measured
(05:38):
very easily at the risk by the watchband. And heart
rate variability is normal, and as heart rate variability goes away,
it correlates with increasing mental stress. Also, increasing mental stress
is correlated with heart rate acceleration. So the watch band
measuring your pulse at your wrist, the radial pulse right
(06:01):
beneath your thumb, it can tell your heart rate variability.
It can tell your heart rate acceleration and using what
we call an algorithm, it transforms that into a single
number from one to one hundred and dug By just
tapping the face of the watch, he can immediately get
his blood pressure, you can among many other factors, including
(06:22):
oxygen saturation. We need to mention also it'll also but
it'll tell you also your mental stress level. Now, many
people are treated with medications for high blood pressure and
hate them because they make them feel awful. And that's
because unfortunately, we're being treated for reactive hypertension, not essential hypertension.
(06:46):
Our blood pressures react a lot, some people more than others,
that go up and down all day. And it's very
important when doctors give you medication if they're needed, that
we know your baseline blood pressure. That's when there's no
mental health stress, there's no physical activity. But if we
give you medications for blood pressure measured with mental stress
(07:07):
or physical activity, it's way up your blood pressure. It
comes down with the medicines, and then when you relax,
your blood pressure goes even further down and you go
down on the floor. You hate the medicine because you're
weak and dizzy. You didn't need it. You had reactive hypertension.
You need mental stress reduction. The beauty of this watch
it differentiates between essential hypertension when the vessels are too
(07:31):
stiff and need medicines after lifestyle changes are not adequately
effective or whether mental stress reduction alone without medication is needed.
And this beat the experts at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The professors, this watch does this amazingly because it's very
hard to know when people have reactive hypertension. With some
(07:55):
it's obvious, but with some it's very hard to know
that it's reactive hypertension. The watch takes the guesswork out
of it. We now can measure your mental stress and
when the blood pressure is up, I teach all the
patients immediately get your mental stress level. And if the
mental stress score is over fifty, you don't need drugs.
You need relaxation, whatever works in your lifestyle to get
(08:17):
the mental stress down. If the mental stress score is
less than fifty, then you need some medication and you
won't overreact to the medication dropping your blood pressure too
low when you relax, because your blood pressure is a
baseline level, it's already a relaxed level. And if you
don't believe this, just get all worked up physically and mentally.
(08:38):
Use that home blood pressure monitor. Take a blood pressure
reading every five to ten minutes for twenty thirty minutes.
You'll see especially that top number dramatically fall down. And
I've done this to myself. I've done this with so
many patients. It's really dramatic when you see yourself how
much physical activity and mental activity affect your blood pressure,
(09:01):
especially that top number. Again, with this watch, it also
will measure and assess the quality of your sleep. It'll
count steps. It's just amazing what this technology does. I'm
so excited because soon it's gonna be measuring blood sugar
and sending us an EKG. This is before the FDA
awaiting approval, all.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Right, So you can even depending on your sport to
sort of follow up and what Ken was saying, they
have a different section on here. If you're playing badminton,
it measures the calories that you're burning and your heart
rate and that sort of thing. But you can do
that with most anything. I just I was going in
I when I first went there.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
This morning's one twenty eight or seventy three. It's pretty
high for me.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Now it's down to below one twenty seventy three is
about where it's somewhere between sixty eight and seventy three.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
And your temperature, I bet is fine. In all this
data need to it on the watch no excellent, no,
no more excellent, and no more need for pen and paper.
It's all stored there on the watch and it's then
sent to me on my app and I can see
it immediately and it's the communication just is wonderful. It's
(10:16):
actually monitored by a nurse in real time to make
sure that these parameters stay within the normals that we
assigned for each patient. So it's a wonderful way to
stay out of the er, stay out of the hospital.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
There you go, ask doctor Ken more about it. You
can visit with him online or at his office by
dialing three five two seven three five fourteen hundred and
you can get him in the watch and the hole.
Miguela here, let me talk to you for a moment
about Caltrin, a healthy weight loss product recommended by so
(10:52):
many people who have gone through it. I'm talking about
millions of people in twenty seven twenty eight years who
have had the opportunity to get you get the benefits
of using this fabulous product, Caltrin. It's made in the USA.
It has been independently tested every year for quality and purity.
(11:13):
It's for both men and women who want to lose
weight naturally. One of the things that happens when you
buy the product is you get at the moment anyway,
a special deal, so you're now you can buy one
month and get a month free, so you can share
with the person that you're partnering with, So that's kind
of cool. If you're on medications for blood pressure, weight loss, diabetes,
(11:36):
you can use this as support free fast shipping when
you use the DOUG code DUG. When you check out,
you get a team of support, including your personal calatrin
consultant who's there to help you ensure that you get
results or your money back. So you go to toploss
(11:58):
dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Which is there.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That's their page and clinical studies are right there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
You can see how it works.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Fabulous, So help yourself to success when it comes to
losing weight, whether you're using drugs or not. This is
a great support system for that. It's Caldron at toploss
dot com. We continue with doctor Kim Cronhouse. As a
(12:26):
matter of fact, there's some good news as those of
you who continue to try to quit smoking. All right,
so my question to you about the folks who are
giving an earnest effort to the smoking problem and quitting it.
This is a this is the most disgusting problem we have.
I think we have a lot of disgusting problems, but
(12:49):
the grossness of smoking. Seeing people throw cigarette butts out
the window, astrays that are full in cars, it's gross.
So with that background, as you quit smoking, what are
some of the benefits.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Doug, This is some new information encouraging for those who
are thinking about smoking, some immediate benefits, and this comes
out of the GERNAL the American College of Cardiology Clinical
Electrophysiology edition this week about atrial fibrillation. That's this most
common electrical abnormality the heart at the top of the
(13:25):
heart beating, as we say, like a bag of worms.
It creates clots at the top of the heart that
are then propelled to the bottom and then up to
the brain. Thirty percent of strokes are caused by atrial fibrillation.
And the news this week is that smokers who make
the decision to quit will see almost immediate health benefits Doug,
(13:46):
including a quick drop in their risk for atrial fibrillation.
The findings provide a compelling new reason, Doug, to show
current smokers that it's not too late to quit and
that having smoked in the past does not mean you're
destined to develop atrial fibrillation, but.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You have other problems your lungs.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think I read or I remember it because my
mother had a bad case of COPD because she'd smoked
since she was seventeen. And those little capillaris in your lungs,
depending on what's in the tars and stuff that are
in the cigarettes, that stuff sticks to your lungs and
that's what plugs up. That's mean that makes their lungs
(14:28):
unable to do what they're supposed to do, right, So.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
That what causes well, it's just a ToxS into the
airways system and it just damages air cells and makes
it so much harder to breathe. But it's never too
late to quit, and your health will improve immediately once
you quit. And just to permit the most common cause
of lung cancer, which everybody should be aware of.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I always am while we're on the air, I'm looking
at various sites for information about health, and we saw
something that is remarkable. Actually, they now have a new
way to check the brain of a fetus and they're
discovering remarkable things in the pregnancy in the nine month
(15:16):
pregnancy period, as to how your brain develops. This fascinating.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I mean, I look around at the world.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I was looking as I was taking my dog for
a walk the other night, at the moon and thinking,
here's this thing three hundred thousand miles away from us
that works perfectly. Our planet works perfectly. Our bodies are
perfect if we don't mess them up. I mean, it's
just And to look at these brain scans of these
these you know, the things in the womb, it's just
(15:47):
it is amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I'm being more philosophical, but I mean, what do.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We do to ourselves as we become adults?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Are we come into this world?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You know, you see the perfection of what's going on
inside the.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Wound, real and amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Really, it really is life, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
We transfused my daughter and you know at eighteen weeks,
I mean, you did amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So there are a lot of questions. Let's talk about
this new COVID variant that's around whether or not you
should get a vaccine shots flu shots. What happens if
you get sick is the bird flu. All flu questions
and whether or not you should get a flu shot.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Is now the time to do it.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Let's address all these questions with doctor Ken as we continue,
how do you do? This is Good Day.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Health with doctor Ken Cronhouse.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I'm Doug Stephan, Doug Stephan here with my friend Elizabeth Miller.
All right, let's talk about something that's new. Everybody, listen up,
because this is going to help you a great deal.
There's a special deal while supplies last.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And they're not going to last long.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Go to Doug Stefan dot com and click on the
Doug's deal button. It's a thirty day supply of Caltrin
for thirty five dollars. That's a savings of forty bucks
because the usual price is seventy five.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, we don't do this ever. And with Calatren teaming
up with Doug right now, Like he said, this offer
is only good through his website. You can always call
us too, and we will definitely still offer that to
you while those supplies are lasting. You can call eight
three three top loss and just say hey, I've got
Dougs deal for thirty five dollars. I want that bottle
(17:32):
and if we still have supplies, we will definitely give
that to you by phone two.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Do it now, Thanks Elizabeth, doctor Ken takes the various
journals of medicine, analyzes the reports that have come from
various meetings and research that's being done, and tells us
what we need to know. So I asked the question
about flu. There's all kinds of flu stuff, bird flu.
I notice, you know, I do the American Family Farmers Show,
(17:59):
and I am a farmer and just to be a broadcaster,
so I'm aware of the focus on whether cows, dairy
cows are getting the flu. There are a couple of
dairies out in the Midwest that have had a little
bit of a problem.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It doesn't affect the milk, but.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
There are people who have now done the research and
they think there's going to be a shot available for
cows to keep them from getting the flu. So what
about people and the bird flu in general? As we
look at the various flus that are around, Sure we
start with the bird flu.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Can the news this week about bird flu and it's
hard to know what to do with this story. But
because the CDC is reporting a case and is it
a one offer, is this really of any concern? Even
the infectious disease experts are unsure about this one. But
in a disclosure DOUG that cannot eliminate the possibility that
(18:55):
bird flu may have spread from one human to another.
For the first time in America, it's been reported that
a person who lived with a Missouri resident that was
infected with this H five and one virus that is
the bird flu, became sick the same day. So it's
is this a one off? Is this a warning that
(19:16):
bird flu is going to be spread human to human?
No one knows. I have read some of the comments
by those who are considered the infectious disease experts in
the country, and no one sure. It's just something to
be aware of, not to get all alarmed about. I
think our individual risk at this point is extremely low.
(19:38):
But this is just something that is good to be aware.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Of, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So let's do some other flu stuff then, including recommendations
for whether or not people should get their flu shot.
Now I have no intention of getting one, but that's
just me. Ye are you getting I'd get a regular
flu shot? Maybe that's the question here. Are we having
a combo this year? I know the suggestion was last
(20:04):
year that there would be a preparation sort of a
catch all for one shot. Is that reality?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Well again, let's not let's not confuse when we say
the flu. These are viruses, and I think, Doug, you're
thinking about COVID nineteen virus and the flu virus, which
are different viruses, right different vaccines at this point, not
bird flu. They're all viruses. And right now COVID nineteen
and the flu are two separate vaccines. I think in
(20:35):
the future they may not be. You'll have that option,
but you know, the general recommendation. Let's talk about the
flu vaccine first. That one's a lot easier in my
humble opinion to discuss, and the general recommendation because the
flu does mutate each year and it changes and it
(20:56):
so if you get one one year, you probably and
you do need won the next year. And the usual
recommendation is September and October of each year to get
your single flu vaccine. You can get at any time
of year, but that's when you get the most bang
for the buck, the most effectiveness. And it's recommended in
(21:16):
everyone six months and older, except if you have a
prior allergy to it, which would be a contraindication. Of course,
some people are most importantly in need of this, people
who have chronic health conditions like kidney, heart, liver, lung, diabetes.
(21:37):
Those who require more medical follow up definitely would benefit most.
The immino compromised patient, pregnant people, children, taking as for
in nursing home residents, people like myself, healthcare workers were
at more risk of getting the flu. These are the groups,
the subgroups that are especially in need of getting a
(22:00):
flu vaccine. But everyone, unless you have a contry indication
if you're six months or older, is eligible one and
should think about it. Talk to your doctor. This is
an individual decision.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
All right. So that's that business, the flu vaccine and
people getting sick. I've heard a lot of stories in
the last few weeks, the last few months, actually, this
summer was very interesting with all the people that had COVID.
I think your daughter had it as a matter of fact.
So what do you do if you gets sick? There's
(22:32):
still the varying degrees the You know, when we first
had the problem a number of years ago, there were
varying degrees of how sick you could get or would get.
Is that still the case?
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Yes, you know you're not today hearing about people everywhere
dying from COVID as you did in twenty twenty twenty
twenty one. But there is this summer because of travel,
because of the of the summer, more people were indoors
in crowds, and there was a blip in COVID. It
(23:07):
still is a bit there, but and there is this
new variant, so our immunity is a little less. So
it has shown itself this in the last couple of months,
but it doesn't seem to be as life threatening. I
think all of us have been exposed, whether we know
it or not, to COVID, so we all have some
(23:29):
natural immunity. Many of us have had vaccines, so that
probably helps a bit. But again there are some subgroups
of people who, if they are going to get COVID,
are at much higher risk of hospitalization and death. And
you know, especially it's felt over sixty five, but especially
over seventy five. And again, the same at risk groups
(23:53):
that we talked about for flu are the groups that
are at risk for dying or being hospitalized with COVID.
We're talking about people with health chronic health conditions, lung,
hard kidney, liver diabetes, seriously obese patients, those who have
compromised immune systems, pregnant people, a subgroup often forgotten, but
(24:16):
pregnant women are at much higher increased risk of serious
complications if they do get COVID, and people who are
nursing home residents and also healthcare workers to some extent.
So this decision whether to take the COVID, boy, I
don't want to get there, and nothing is more of
a hot button than that one. But just make your
(24:36):
own decision, talk to your doctor about it. And there's
no way to give out one size fits all advice
on this. You just have to know your own personal
risk of surviving COVID or of staying out of the
hospital should you get COVID, and then make that decision
for yourself with the help of your doctor.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
All right, let's keep moving here. There are some new
stories of drugs, immunotherapy drugs that if you have melanoma,
for example, I guess this might have been good news
if we started.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
The hour with this.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
You let's talk about difference between melanoma carcinoma people who
have advanced I think I'm thinking to back to when.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We isn't that awful. I'm thinking about I can.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
See the senator who had any ran for president. Why
am I not grabbing onto his name anyway, and a
lot of people that have melanomas and carcinoma's yeah melon
m John McCain. Yeah, So anyway, advanced melanoma and what
happens with some of the new drugs, and maybe you
can explain the difference for people who get confused between
(25:51):
carcinomas and melanomas, which one is the more deadly.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well, we're talking about cancer and various types of cancer,
and let's talk about melanoma because this really is good news.
Do we have a bit of time because we all rush, Yes,
this is really good news. Melanoma. You know, it has
been thought of as a very dangerous type of skin cancer.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Dug.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
It develops when melanocytes. These are the cells that produce melanin.
These are the cells that create the color.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
We all have skin, and the only reason we have
different skin colors is because some have more melanocytes than others.
That's the big difference, no big difference. And if we
all have the same amount of this type of cell,
we'd all have the same skin color. But that's what
produces skin color, and cancers of this particular cell, the melanocyte,
(26:47):
produces of a horrible, deadly skin cancer up until recently.
You know, you go back about ten years. If you
got this diagnosis, you were dead very quickly. This comes
out of the New England Journal of Medicine. It's a
breakthrough that immunotherapy drugs can extend the survival for people
with advanced melanomas. This is very important information. It's really
(27:12):
hopeful and was just published this past weekend in the
New England Journal of Medicine. Quickly and that's how important
this result is. So decade a decade DOUG of patient
follow up, that's a long time. In a research study
finds that a combination of two immunotherapy drugs and i'll
mention how these things work shortly can greatly extend survival
(27:34):
for people with advanced melanomas. So in twenty eleven, DOUG
a diagnosis of advanced metastatic melanomas typically man death within
six and a half months. So once you were diagnosed
with melanoma, and it usually metastatic, that means it moved
out of the site where it began. And these things
(27:56):
move so quickly that usually when it's diagnosed it is metastatic.
Around meant you were dead within six and a half months.
Horrible and I've seen this over the course of being
a physician. It's just dreadful. Pancreatic cancer, melanoma, awful, awful, awful.
There's no good cancer, but this has been among the worst.
But the good news is by twenty twenty four, use
(28:19):
of the two drugs, and these are a mouthful, hard
to say novel lumb niv o l u m ab
and am pilum mab IPI l i m umab. It
just makes them very hard to pronounce, has extended that
survival for six years and possibly more. Both drugs are
(28:43):
in a class of cancer medications. They're called immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors. These medicines work by switching off a
key cellular mechanism that would otherwise tell immune system T
cells to not attack of cancer cells. So there are
various cells in the immune system. The B is in boy,
(29:06):
T is in TOM, and they work on different types
of foreign bodies. And a cancer becomes a foreign body.
You aren't born with it usually, but it's an abnormality
and the immune system will often protect us. But for
some odd reason, in this kind of cancer, the cancer
gets smart to protect itself and turns off the immune
(29:27):
system that should be protecting us from this cancer. But
these drugs actually turn back on the cell and your
natural immunity, your natural cells that are there to fight
foreign bodies, going and destroy the cancer in the skin.
This is great hope. Hopefully, as more and more follow
up occurs and more research is done, this six and
(29:50):
a half month survival to more than six year survival
will even extend much much longer. And I think that
is the future of this immune therapy be where we
target with the immune system and with monoclonal antibodies focused
missiles right at the cancer cells. We don't destroy the
rest of the body trying to kill the cancer cells.
(30:11):
All we do is kill the cancer. This is a
great breakthrough you talked about, Presidents, is what kept Jimmy
Carter alive and is keeping him alive. That kind of
brain cancer should have been expired much much earlier. This
is great hope for anyone who thinks about cancer, which
is probably all of us.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I guess we all wonder because you and others say
Jack Starckwell says all the time as well, we all
have cancers in our body. It's just what happens to them.
Depending on what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And you know we.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Talked earlier about alcohol, smoking and all those things.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
They help the cancer cells, they get together.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Okay, coming up next questions for doctor Ken on this
week's Good Day Health. I'm Doug Stefan stick Around.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Most suicides stem from some mental health disorders. Statistics, surprisingly
at least to me, show that the behavior can sometimes
be contagious, and this actually leads to suicide clusters. Suicide clusters,
they're defined as a group of suicides or suicide attempts
(31:21):
that occur closer together in time, space, or both than
would normally be expected in a community. And what we
see is that these suicide clusters, they actually really do occur,
and we need to prevent them. So how can we
prevent them? Such some things to think about communication after
(31:42):
there is a suicide, mom and dad, friends, you've got
to communicate. You've got to talk about it. The stigma.
We've got to stop the stigma of suicide and feel
comfortable communicating about this. You've got to give both mental
and physical to those people involved, and make sure you
(32:04):
watch for any signs that someone around the other person
who committed suicide is thinking about committing suicide. You know,
if somebody gives away all their belongings, they're thinking about suicide.
If somebody suddenly empties out their bank account and gives
it away, they're thinking about suicide. People are neglecting themselves.
(32:26):
People are feeling hopeless, helpless, not worthwhile, there's just no happiness.
This is the severest form of depression. Especially as we
learn from the study they if these individuals have been
around others or another person who recently committed suicide, watched
(32:47):
for that cluster, and feel comfortable getting involved, you might
save a life. You can ask somebody. Don't be afraid
about asking somebody, your child, your friend, are you thinking
about suicide? Because study after study shows that that does
not put the idea into their head. It actually helps
(33:08):
let the steam out of the pot. It actually gives
people who are thinking about suicide an opportunity to talk
because here is somebody who might actually be concerned and
will be willing to listen. So if you have any
concern that somebody is thinking about suicide, actually ask them.
(33:29):
You may save a life. I know I have in
my career as a physician, have saved several lives by
being comfortable about asking people who I thought were just
overly depressed and asking them about are they contemplating suicide?
(33:49):
And then hearing months later doctor Ken, thank you for asking.
You saved my life Ken.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Intestinal parasites and having problems with diarrhea, how do you
know when you have a real problem, And because a
lot of Americans certainly suffer from this, this is a
health problem that happens all around the world.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
In fact, let's talk about the symptoms of intestinal parasites, DOUG.
They're not specific to intestinal parasites because then you have
to check the stool. The doctor has to send off
some to the lab. But there are some common symptoms
that should alert you that you need to be checked.
Most of them make pretty much sense. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea,
(34:33):
vomiting gas or bloating, dysenteria, when there's loose stools containing
blood and mucus, rush or itching around the rectum or vulva,
stomach pain or tenderness, and just feeling tired. These are
the symptoms of parasites in the intestine, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
So taking things for them. There are a lot of
commercial things you can take in they're probiotics and prebiotics
and things that you take maybe as a matter of course,
if you have often frequent problems with this sort of thing.
I know I've heard that a number of times to
find prebiotics are helpful. Probiotics especially a lot of people
(35:11):
take them.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
More advice and more answers to questions from doctor Can
doctor Can Cronhaus. Here this Good Day Health Doug Stefan
with doctor Ken Cronhaus, sponsored in part by Caldron. Which
is the safe way for you to lose weight and
keep it off.
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